Does anybody use an 'official' campaign world for their adventures? Or do you have your own personal creations?

I've only run one session of DCC so far, and I used the introductory adventure from the rulebook to break in my players. I've been thinking about just getting the DCC modules (including 3rd party products) from here on out and forming a world around them, 1st edition Greyhawk-style.

I've considered running some of my 1st edition D&D modules as well since they don't seem like they would be very hard to adapt. I've GMed Keep on the Borderlands several times over the years, but I've never actually run In Search of the Unknown despite owning two different copies. In fact, I find myself breaking out my 1st edition Greyhawk books as well and thinking of ways I can apply adventures like the Doom of Savage Kings and Perils of the Sunken City to the world of Greyhawk.

_________________"The Shamrock Shake is a frosty, minty symbol of all that we hold dear. It is shameful that we as a people cannot enjoy this proud, symbolic beverage any more than one week a year. Unless the British government loosens its iron grip on this most Irish of shakes, the streets will once again run red with English blood." - Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing.

I have run several one-shots in the prior months to get used to the rules and try to figure out the power of characters at different levels. Last week I finally kicked off a campaign where we are starting with the 0-level funnel and then working our way up level by level.

I chose to start in the Great City/Sunken City from Perils of the Sunken City. It gave me a city to work with for times I needed a city and the sending stone will let me easily drop in different modules as needed by using the sending stone to get the characters there. I figure that will be enough to get me started with a consistent world, but can easily allow me to add my own things to it as the characters begin to explore their area more.

I have run several one-shots in the prior months to get used to the rules and try to figure out the power of characters at different levels. Last week I finally kicked off a campaign where we are starting with the 0-level funnel and then working our way up level by level.

I chose to start in the Great City/Sunken City from Perils of the Sunken City. It gave me a city to work with for times I needed a city and the sending stone will let me easily drop in different modules as needed by using the sending stone to get the characters there. I figure that will be enough to get me started with a consistent world, but can easily allow me to add my own things to it as the characters begin to explore their area more.

In my home game, one group of PCs started with Sailors, then ended up at a fishing village. They went into the mountains, in search of a witch who might no more of a ring found in Sailors, and are currently embroiled in Savage Kings.

Another group has dealt with Attack of the Frawgs, been through Cotillion of Hours, and is right now investigating the Barrowmaze.

A third group has been through Perils of the Sunken City and is now getting ready to attack the river bandits in Jonas Gralk. In this campaign, the Sunken City is New Orleans in the far future.

These groups are all part of the same pool of players, and the game being played is based on who is available on a given night. But the settings are all on different "worlds" which will connect with Golden Shanthopal when that campaign setting is ready. I intend to order my campaign at this point in the following manner:

(1) Standing Locations that can always be explored. The description of Shanthopal includes several of this type. Basically, locations that fulfil the purpose of a megadungeon in the setting (i.e., a place to go when you have no other specific plans).

(2) Opportunities that arise, such as, for example, when a purchased module leads me to offer a quest.

(3) Quests that the player indicates a PC is interested in.....for example, I have one player who is seeking out the four deadliest poisons known to man, as indicated to him in a dream. Needless to say, none of these are just lying around ready to be grabbed....they must be sought out in the dangerous regions they are located in. But I also intend to make that knowledge useful when writing adventures; i.e., encountering such a poison, the character may also recognize it...or even know an antidote or something important about what its presence implies.

I just started an AD&D campaign on my world, Xarn. This week the DCC RPG campaign on Xarn begins too. I also started blogging about the setting details and the game reports. The only problem is that it's going to be in hungarian for a while. I'm going to translate stuff later, when I have the time to do so. Sorry.

I started both of my current campaigns with a homebrew adventure. In one, I didn't plan on continuing it beyond the scope of the adventure, but the players were really into it so I agreed. Now I'm just kind of making it up as I go along. It's been fun, and a real challenge, to figure out the shape of the world.

I have been torn between using the Campaign map for "City State of the Invincible Overlord" from Judges Guild and then branching out into the rest of the Wilderlands if it comes to that. Or using the Map of Miniaria from the Divine Right board game.

Both of these have a great Sword & Sorcery feel to them. I am waiting to see how far my players dare to travel beyond their town though.

_________________Ah well, who wants to live forever? DIE!worldoferoc.blogspot.com

Yeah, as much as I love creating world maps, for DCC I think the 'start with a village or city surrounded by white space and work your way out' really fits the vibe. (Which is another advantage of the 'wilderlands' style settings as you can just grab and introduce whatever you need from the setting as you expand out...)

And it's really cool to hear that some of you are using The Sunken City as part of your creations.

We have a game starting up next week. I've been trying to get the jumble of ideas floating around in my head to gel into some sort of coherant world, but between work and the family haven't had much time to work on it.

So instead I've decided to start with a couple of DDC modules (start with Sailors and then either People of the Pit or Emerald Enchanter depending on party size and level.) I've mapped out a small northern borderlands/frontier area with a few sites of interest. Basic idea is of the technologically/magically advance empire fallen to ruin due to their own hubris. People are just now picking up the peices. .(I've shamelessly stolen ideas from several peoples blogs). There may be some more civilized lands 'pass the horizon' but there may not be eitherI'm hoping that as we play I can take ideas from the players and use them to help flesh out the surrounding world. Adventuring will be pretty much PC driven. I have a no grand plot in mind, just a few ideas for 'mysteries' or recurring themes to give a bit of a sense of continuity.

I'm using the close proximity approach suggested in the DCC book. This is a first for me, as I've always used my homebrew world in any campaign I've run (as opposed to one-shots or short adventures) and the action was always world-shaking.

For the time being, the action will take place in a small vale, 5 towns total and a few hamlets, three rivers, several sites of interest, and that's it. And to top it off, the PCs won't have the vale map at the outset, they'll only know their own town's close environs. The vale is in a kingdom but the king has never visited the vale in the 700 years since the barony was given to a knight that long ago. In essence the vale is out of the radar, I've barely found a name for the kingdom, and my intention for now is that the action will take place exclusively in that small, out-of-reach vale that can be crossed in a few weeks of travel.

The vale is surrounded by mountains east and west, a great swamp and a forest to the south, and more mountains and another forest to the north. A small dwarven community lives in the eastern mountains and a large, secluded elven community lives far away in the southern forest. Hobbits... Er, halflings live here and there in the vale. Normally, the action should not take the PCs to these communities, but I figure the PCs of those races should have a background to rely on.

For the map, I've picked something up on the internet, changed names and a few other details with the GIMP image editor, and it looks great

I have been torn between using the Campaign map for "City State of the Invincible Overlord" from Judges Guild and then branching out into the rest of the Wilderlands if it comes to that. Or using the Map of Miniaria from the Divine Right board game.

One thing about using someone else's world -- I always feel the urge to really know the source material. This sometimes can be a lot of homework for me. That's always been the problem I have with running Conan or other worlds like this, so in general I tend to create my own maps and then steal specific locations or ideas from other campaigns to make them "my own" instead of the author's.

Given these two choices, I'd go for the Wilderlands world because Judges Guild built a world with a lot of cool stuff on the map but not a lot explained so I can fill in the details. Minairia is a neat world but there were a dozen or so articles in Dragon about the world and I'd feel the urge to try to read and master everything. That's just the way I am.

"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own." -- Gary Gygax"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" -- Dave Arneson

I've been running games in my sandboxy setting for maybe a year or so. It originally started with just the basic premise of B2 Keep on the Borderlands, although modified quite a bit. The keep has become "The Outpost", and it's much crappier than the original version. Everything is made of wood (so it feels less safe). I used the map of the cave system, but reworked the interior maps and populated them myself, and also added a large ancient-spaceship-dungeon connected to one of the caves, but it hasn't been visited much. (One of the early groups was almost taken out by a wicked space mummy, and I think that scared them off.)

Since those early days, much has been added:A haunted house (original Tegel Manor)A series of small mud-cave dungeons (Geoffrey McKinney's Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer)A megadungeon of my own design (Castle Blackmeyer)Two additional towns (Blackmire Village and Dungheath)A wizard's tower (LotFP Tower of the Stargazer)A volcanic mountain dungeon (S2: White Plume Mountain)

I do a healthy mix of published products and stuff of my own design. I have quite a gaming library, so I try to get use out of as many things as possible. I have multiple groups running around in the setting: a local game store group (every other week), a home group (every 3-4 weeks), and I was running games on google+ as well over the winter, but haven't run one since our daughter was born in April.

My "world map" is the northern map from the hollow world box set, which is a giant poster-sized hex map. The only thing I use it for is so I know what terrain is where, because I don't find figuring that sort of thing out on my own enjoyable.

So basically, what I've learned, is that you can start a sandbox with just a roughly sketched town and dungeon. After the first session, add a bit based on what the players are finding interesting. Sprinkle in published adventures as locations and drop in rumors about them. Over time, the setting will continue to grow and begin to take on a life of its own, driven by the actions of the players. This can be very rewarding. Being able to improv, or "fake it" at times might be necessary, but a healthy selection of inspirational random tables and perhaps a set of story dice make it very easy. I once ran an entire session based off of a two-sentence description in a hex entry from Carcosa.

My setting is kitchen sink in order to prevent me from getting bored. If I try to run a game that is too focused, I eventually get bored and want to try something else and that usually translates to scrapping the entire thing and starting a new campaign. With Outland, there is room for everything. I have 28 player races available. Lost technology is out there, from laser guns to "damnation vans" (think A-Team van), to rocket launchers, etc. My basic rule is that if it is fun, I can make room for it.

I only spend time creating the stuff I enjoy: magic/tech items, weird monsters, weirdo in-town npcs, fun encounter tables, dungeons....Anything I find to be tedious, I just rip someone else's work: the overland map, a lot of dungeon maps, etc.

I think finding the right balance is key. Using a published setting is not an either/or choice. Use parts of it, and disregard the rest, depending on your tastes. Create the stuff you enjoy creating, and use someone else's work to fill in the gaps. I think doing things like that can give your campaign a lot of staying power.

Since those early days, much has been added:A haunted house (original Tegel Manor)A series of small mud-cave dungeons (Geoffrey McKinney's Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer)A megadungeon of my own design (Castle Blackmeyer)Two additional towns (Blackmire Village and Dungheath)A wizard's tower (LotFP Tower of the Stargazer)A volcanic mountain dungeon (S2: White Plume Mountain)

...

My setting is kitchen sink in order to prevent me from getting bored. If I try to run a game that is too focused, I eventually get bored and want to try something else and that usually translates to scrapping the entire thing and starting a new campaign. With Outland, there is room for everything. I have 28 player races available. Lost technology is out there, from laser guns to "damnation vans" (think A-Team van), to rocket launchers, etc. My basic rule is that if it is fun, I can make room for it.

I only spend time creating the stuff I enjoy: magic/tech items, weird monsters, weirdo in-town npcs, fun encounter tables, dungeons....Anything I find to be tedious, I just rip someone else's work: the overland map, a lot of dungeon maps, etc.

That's really cool!

_________________"The Shamrock Shake is a frosty, minty symbol of all that we hold dear. It is shameful that we as a people cannot enjoy this proud, symbolic beverage any more than one week a year. Unless the British government loosens its iron grip on this most Irish of shakes, the streets will once again run red with English blood." - Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing.

I have been torn between using the Campaign map for "City State of the Invincible Overlord" from Judges Guild and then branching out into the rest of the Wilderlands if it comes to that. Or using the Map of Miniaria from the Divine Right board game.

One thing about using someone else's world -- I always feel the urge to really know the source material. This sometimes can be a lot of homework for me. That's always been the problem I have with running Conan or other worlds like this, so in general I tend to create my own maps and then steal specific locations or ideas from other campaigns to make them "my own" instead of the author's.

Given these two choices, I'd go for the Wilderlands world because Judges Guild built a world with a lot of cool stuff on the map but not a lot explained so I can fill in the details. Minairia is a neat world but there were a dozen or so articles in Dragon about the world and I'd feel the urge to try to read and master everything. That's just the way I am.

Both would make excellent campaign worlds!

Based on the recommendations on this thread, I went over to RPGNow and found the Judges Guild Wilderlands stuff. It was bundled for a low, low price of $68. Score! Thanks for the idea.

I think I'm probably going to use it as many of you have suggested. Use what you need, when you need it, but make it over into your own thing as you go. That's pretty much how I do campaigns, as well. Having such useful starting material is always nice, of course, but reskinning and supplementing as you go is what makes the resulting game world most interesting, and, I think, helps to integrate others' work with your own (and your players') intellectual productivity.

I am fortunate enough for my players (well the two that are left) to have never paid attention to Greyhawk. The deities in that setting blow so I use Norse, Greek and Egyptian deities ( with a very CHAOTIC Cthulhu mythos as well) yes I'm a dung stirrer!

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